STAFF at the Oxford Wine Company are raising a glass after winning yet another award.

In a ceremony at the Grosvenor Hotel in Park Lane, London, the group scooped the prize for ‘Specialist Fortified Merchant of the Year’.

The award came at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Merchant Awards, where the Oxford-based company fought off competition from Waitrose.

Though it has an older store in Botley Road, the company mainly works out of their newly-opened branch on Turl Street.

The firm also has a shop in Standlake, near Witney, and Wine Cafes in Jericho and Sandy’s Piano Bar, off the High Street.

It says has ‘put a lot of effort into its fortified wine selection over the past year’, and has seen sales more than double.

Some of the credit has gone to a new specific fortified wine buyer, Matthew Whitaker, who joined last year after being the Sommelier at The Michelin starred Nut Tree in Murcott.

Oxford Wine Company director John Chapman said: “The award is testament to a lot of hard work put in in the last 12 months, particularly by Matthew Whitaker in an area that we feel is very important and growing all the time.

“It’s mainly sherry, Madeira and Port - sherry particularly is becoming very trendy and popular among millennials.”

Managing director and owner Ted Sandbach added: “This is a fantastic achievement, and credit should go to the whole team for all their hard work. We’ve been flying the fortified wine flag for some time now, and it’s great to get this recognition.”

Event organisers IWC say the awards were established in 1984 and are ‘widely accepted as the world’s finest and most meticulously judged wine and sake competition.’

The original Oxford Wine Company was founded in 1840 and traded from High Street until 1914. The name was revived in 1992, after a series of name changes.

From 2011 - 2014, the company won ‘Best Wholesaler of the Year’ four years in a row and in 2015 won the IWC ‘Regional Wine Merchant of the Year’.

Last year the company sold off its branch in Summertown and the space has since been turned into a restaurant, called ThirtyEight.

The store is hosting a wine tasting event next Tuesday, from 7pm in its Turl Street store.